3 Questions for my puppy?

Question

Hello,

1.) For those that use Canidae All Life Stages, would you guys recommend feeding a puppy 3 times a day or 4?

2.) Would brushing your puppy's teeth on a daily basis be better? or twice a week is enough?

3.) How often do you guys clean your dog's ears? Those that do, would you guys recommend buying an ear cleaning kit at pet stores such as petco or get them at the vet? or do they even sell it at the vet?

Thanks a bunch.

Answer 1

go by the feeding guide on the bag it depends upon age breed weight etc how much your dog should eat. my puppy is a large breed she eats three times a day. brush your dogs teeth as often as you can. cleaning your dogs ears once or twice a month is often enough. just get some ear cleaning solution and some cotton balls.

Answer 2

1. Three times should be sufficient, since it's a high-quality food.

2. I do it about twice a week- too much may irritate the gums.

3. We were doing it every day, b/c the puppy had an ear infection. Every other day is how we do it now, but your vet can advise you. I would get some stuff from the vet- we use "Pharmaseb Flush." It smells good, but leaves some greasy residue.

Answer 3

1. Depends on your puppy's age. The older he is, the fewer feedings.

2. Brushing is fine, But billions of dogs existed before now without their teeth ever being brushed. When I was a kid, we never brushed my dog's teeth and there was never a problem. Even with all the bruha today about teeth cleaning, there are chews that are made to do the job. (What do wolves do about brushing?)

3. I would not buy such a kit, since Q-tips work just fine. I'd clean mine maybe a couple of times  a month at the most -- IF they needed it. I would keep an eye on them frequently, esp during summer.

Answer 4

1) I always fed my dog 2 times a day, one in the morning and one at night, but we would always give him little treats while we taught him tricks.

2) twice a week is fine.. to be quite honest I never brushed my dogs teeth..

3) Ok so since i dont live in america i dont really have Petco so i get a cutip and dip in in some oil and then i clean carefully my dogs ears, and i would raccomend you do it 3-4 times a month.

hope i helped :D

Answer 5

1) You should feed your puppy 3 times a day.  there is no advantage to feeding it 4 times a day, it is just more work for you and with a puppy you already have enough work.

2) No need to brush teeth daily.  Twice a week is deffinately enough, I would even cut down to once a week as long as you are doing it every week.  You dont need to do it until your dog gets its adult teeth in, there is no reason what so ever to clean the baby teeth other then you want your dog to get use to you cleaning its teeth.  So you can go through the routine but you dont need to use any cleaner until the adult teeth come in.

3) I clean my dogs ears when ever they are dirty.  There is not a certain time table to follow, it is different for every dog.  Dogs with long ears almost always need there ears cleaned more often then dogs with short ears.  Dont set up a schedule, just check your dogs ears once a day and if they look dirty clean them.  The vet sells a great product for ear cleaning, I use it for my bullmastiff and boerboel who both have long ears and need a good cleaning about once a week.  It is called opticlean or something like that.  The vet will know what it is, it is a liquid that you actually can pour into your dogs ear cannal and it really does a great job of keeping there ears clean.

Answer 6

Growing puppies only need a little bit of food each time you feed them but they require more calories than a grown dog so you should feed about a 1/4 cup of 4 times a day. If they are a large breed puppy you could even feed a bit more like a 1/3 cup. Brushing a puppies teeth on a daily basis is a nice idea but they only need it once or twice a week. They will be losing those teeth shortly anyways but it is a good idea to get them into a routine for when they do have their adult teeth. If you have a puppy with ears that hang down you should clean their ears at least once a week. If they are a breed like Poodles that grow hair in their ears you should talk to your vet about learning how to properly remove the hair with tweezers. If you have a dog with upright ears that dont grow hair in them every other week is enough. Just be sure to check them in between weeks. As for an ear cleaning kit there is nothing really special you need to buy. Rubbing alcohol works fine as long as they have no scratches or cuts in their ears and works great to remove water from them after a bath. Baby oil is all you really need to clean the wax and goop out of their ears, along with some cotton balls and a couple qtips.  

Answer 7

I don't use Canidae--I'm a Purina fan, long time--but the rule of thumb is smallish servings three or four times a day.  Puppies, like babies, have small tummies, and you don't want to gorge them.  Plus, it makes toilet training easier, cause their control is better if they're not stuffed.

Brushing every day is better, if you can get him acclimated to it--same as for yourself.  Morning is best, and giving him lots of chewy toys is a help, too, as well as feeding primarily dry food.  You'll still need to have the teeth planed at some point, but brushing will keep those occasions to a much smaller number.

Personally, I just use a small cotton ball on the end of my finger, and gently swab in the hollow of his ears.  For severe clogging or grime issues, you really need to seek your vet's assistance.  Especially if your dog has floppy ears, dirt is less of an issue than is moisture, which can give them real fits.  A little cotton and a little swab will do fine for that, too.

Answer 8

1. i say 4 times until he or she is about 8months or 9months maybe even a year!!

2. my dog is about a year and a few months old and about a week ago he just got is brushed teeth bt if u want i would go to a petstore its earier.

3. if its a lab often bt if not every month or so bt if u pet him and kiss and smell his ears and the smell really bad i would clean them and i think they do have some cleaner at the vet bt it might be over coastly so just go to PETCO!! :)

Answer 9

1.)  I would feed 2-3 times a day unless it is a very small breed or has feeding issues.  This will let you get on a good potty-training schedule based around meals.

2.)  As a puppy, I would brush the teeth as often as you can.  Obviously, he is going to lose those teeth anyway, but this is the time to get him used to handling and manipulating his mouth so that he will be tolerant of it later.  (Likewise, mess with him while he's eating, take his bowl away and give it back, pull his tail, etc.)

3.)  I only clean ears on animals that need it because of yeast or mites.  Some breeds that don't get much airflow to the ear canal would benefit from regular cleaning to prevent yeast and bacterial infections (hounds, labs, etc.).  In that case, I would clean them once a week or so with 50% apple cider vinegar and 50% water.  The other cleaners are acid-based, which is unnecessary in most cases and will burn if there are any scratches in the ear.  ACV works really well and is vet recommended.